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A cancer diagnosis, a bucket list trip to Japan, and a watch brand born from a carpe diem of what is important in life...

It is easy to run life on autopilot, day in and day out, until something stops you cold and reminds you how little time we might actually have. Most of us think about that abstractly. For Ryan LeClaire and his wife Andrea of Makoto Watches, it became something much more literal.

A few years ago, Andrea was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, with an initial prognosis of four months to live. Ryan did what any husband would do and dropped everything, including selling their furniture business, to be with her. That kind of news shifts your perspective fast. For this couple it became carpe diem, a shared mission to seize every day they had. Andrea encouraged Ryan to follow his passion. As a lifelong watch collector with an eye for design, the direction was already clear. So he started designing watches, staying home with her, and combined with a bucket list trip to Japan, Makoto Watches was born...

https://www.analogexplorer.com/p/ae-48-carpe-diem-with-mokoto-watches

For full show notes, Analog Explorer ® is a reader-supported publication and podcast. To receive new posts, full show notes, and more, ⁠⁠⁠⁠consider supporting Analog Explorer on Substack.⁠⁠⁠

Full show notes on Substack ⁠

https://open.substack.com/pub/analogexplorer/p/ae-47-elliot-brown-california-dreamn?r=8z6az&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

This time last year was bananas, to say the least. Right as the Vancouver Timepiece Show was getting underway, the #watchfam found itself watching favorite brands navigate a full-blown trade war, sometimes on an hourly basis. Some brands were upfront about passing on the tariff costs. Others quietly ate them to keep prices steady for their customers. And a small few, including Elliot Brown, made the difficult call to pause sales to the United States entirely until things settled.

A year on, Gem Parker of Elliot Brown is back on the mic at the 2026 Vancouver Timepiece Show to recount that year, and to tease out where Elliot Brown is going next.

For full show notes, Analog Explorer ® is a reader-supported publication and podcast. To receive new posts, full show notes, and more, ⁠⁠⁠consider supporting Analog Explorer on Substack.⁠⁠⁠

Full show notes on Substack

https://open.substack.com/pub/analogexplorer/p/ae-46-the-voice-of-your-universe?r=8z6az&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

One of the things that draws me to shows like the Vancouver Timepiece Show is the creative independence on display. These brands are not just growing up, some of them are just ‘grown up.’ And what many of them are producing now sits at a level that can go toe to toe with far bigger names, at a price point that still lets the rest of us play along. Gavox Watches out of Belgium is a perfect example of that.

For full show notes, Analog Explorer ® is a reader-supported publication and podcast. To receive new posts, full show notes, and more, ⁠⁠consider supporting Analog Explorer on Substack.⁠⁠

Because the stories behind the watches matter as much as the watches themselves.

Full show notes at https://open.substack.com/pub/analogexplorer/p/ae-45-the-human-work-timepiece-world?r=8z6az&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Matt is a communications professional and fellow avid watch enthusiast with a passion for not just watches, but the “human side” of the stories behind them. Together, they are building the Timepiece World Journal as a new editorial platform focused not on specs and reviews, but on the people and stories behind the watches we collect and love.

So in an age where the content space feels this wide, where do you go? For these two, the answer was to go deeper not wider.

For full show notes, Analog Explorer ® is a reader-supported publication and podcast. To receive new posts, full show notes, and more, ⁠consider supporting Analog Explorer on Substack.⁠

Ken as Arken Watch Co. wasn’t at the show as a brand this year. No table, no speakeasy (this year), just Ken as a fellow lover of watches and the #watchfam checking out the floor as a regular attendee and catching up with friends.

Full show notes at : https://open.substack.com/pub/analogexplorer/p/ae-44-running-into-old-friends-our?r=8z6az&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

For full show notes, Analog Explorer ® is a reader-supported publication and podcast. To receive new posts, full show notes, and more, ⁠consider supporting Analog Explorer on Substack.⁠

Community, storytelling, and new voices from the #watchfam

Full show notes at : https://www.analogexplorer.com/p/ae-43-community-connections-2026

Last year, the conversations from the show centered on what I called the shifting sands of global trade, with tariffs, uncertainty, and how brands were navigating constantly moving ground. A year on, by and large our favorite brands are still standing and things seem to have stabilized. So this time around, I wanted to shift the focus to something closer to the heart of the Analog Explorer: community.

In the #watchfam there are so many different ways we share our enthusiasm for horology, and the interviews going into this season with the Vancouver Timepiece Show are going to highlight a few new and different ones.

The interviews from the 2026 Vancouver Timepiece Show are on their way to the Analog Explorer feed....

For full show notes, Analog Explorer ® is a reader-supported publication and podcast. To receive new posts, full show notes, and more, consider supporting Analog Explorer on Substack.

In this episode of The Analog Explorer, I sat down with Sinziana Iordache—hyperrealist graphite artist and fellow #watchfam creative—live from the inaugural Vancouver Timepiece Show. Unlike the many brand founders I’ve had across the mic during the show, Sinziana represents a different part of the horological world that I can only describe as the artistry of analog...

https://www.analogexplorer.com/p/ae-42-sinziana-iordache-vancouver

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In this episode of The Analog Explorer, I sat down with Jérôme Burgert, designer and co-founder of Serica Watches, right off the floor of the inaugural Vancouver Timepiece Show. Serica is one of those brands that has been on my radar since day one thanks to its minimal, purposeful aesthetic and the rare balance it strikes between elegance and adventure.

For Jérôme, good design isn’t about chasing trends or copying vintage cues, it’s about capturing emotion through form, all while building something that can take a hit and keep ticking. “Why choose between pretty and robust?” he asked. “When you don’t have to choose, it becomes the watch you just reach for every day.”

https://www.analogexplorer.com/p/ae-41-serica-watches-vancouver-timepiece⁠

🎧 Subscribe and listen to the full episode now, wherever you get your podcasts, or support the Analog Explorer on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠.